NEWS
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D. C.  20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
TTY: 1-888-835-5322
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
June 17, 2011 Neil Grace, 202-418-0506
Email: neil.grace@fcc.gov
FCC CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI NAMES ZACHARY KATZ AS CHIEF 
COUNSEL; SHERRESE SMITH AS SENIOR COUNSEL & LEGAL ADVISOR; AND 
AMY LEVINE AS SPECIAL COUNSEL & LEGAL ADVISOR
Washington, D.C. – FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced today the appointment of Zachary 
Katz as Chief Counsel & Senior Legal Advisor. Mr. Katz will succeed Rick Kaplan, who recently 
became Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.  As Chief Counsel, Mr. Katz will manage the 
Commission’s overall policy agenda, and will be responsible for policy coordination among the Bureaus 
and Offices.  In addition, he will continue to have specific responsibility for wireline, international and 
Internet issues, including universal service reform, Open Internet, and satellite matters.  
In addition, Chairman Genachowski announced that Sherrese Smith, currently a Legal Advisor, will also 
become Senior Counsel; and Amy Levine, currently Special Counsel, will also take on a new role as a 
Legal Advisor.  In her role as Senior Counsel & Legal Advisor, Ms. Smith will oversee the Media, 
Consumer, and Enforcement bureaus.  Ms. Levine will take on new responsibilities overseeing the 
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Office of Engineering & Technology, adding to her portfolio 
that currently includes spectrum auction policy and public safety issues.  
Chairman Genachowski said, “I am delighted that these outstanding professionals will take on new 
roles and responsibilities as we continue advancing the Commission’s vital agenda to generate jobs, 
innovation and economic growth on behalf of the American people. Each of them brings unique, deep
and diverse strengths to our work. I look forward to relying on each of them, as well as the other senior 
members of our strong team.”
Mr. Katz currently serves as a Legal Advisor to Chairman Genachowski after serving as Deputy Chief of 
the Commission’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis. He joined the FCC in 2009 from the 
White House Counsel’s Office and previously practiced law at Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles, 
focusing on transactional and litigation matters involving intellectual property. Mr. Katz served as a law 
clerk for the Honorable Kim M. Wardlaw of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit after 
receiving his law degree from Yale, where he was Editor-in-Chief of The Yale Law Journal and active in 
the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization. Before law school he worked with technology 
companies at a strategy consulting and investment firm in Silicon Valley.
Ms. Smith currently serves as a Legal Advisor to Chairman Genachowski.  Prior to that appointment, she 
was most recently Vice President and General Counsel of Washington Post Digital.  Before that, Ms. 
Smith was a member of the Intellectual Property group at Arnold and Porter. She currently serves on the 
board of the ABA’s Forum for Communications Law, has served on the board of the Media Law 
Resource Center Institute and was a co-chair of the Copyright Committee of the ABA. Ms. Smith is a 
frequent lecturer on media, publishing, internet and intellectual property issues and is a faculty member 
for the Practicing Law Institute.
Ms. Levine currently serves as a Special Counsel to the Chairman with a focus on matters concerning 
public safety, spectrum and accessibility, including spectrum auction policy; creation of a nationwide, 
interoperable public safety broadband network; and deployment of E911 and NG911 technologies.  Ms. 
Levine most recently served as principal communications policy advisor to Congressman Rick Boucher, 
former Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and 
Congressman John Dingell, former Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, in the U.S. 
House of Representatives. Previously, she was Legislative Counsel to Senator Claire McCaskill and 
practiced law at Covington & Burling in the firm’s communications and media law group. Ms. Levine 
clerked for Chief Judge Jerry Buchmeyer in the Northern District of Texas.
-- FCC --